Britain is still in a state of war in Iraq, Tony Blair admitted yesterday.

Challenging the international community to join the "new Iraqi conflict" against terrorism, he said Britain would not "desert" the Iraqi people.

The prime minister claimed that Iraq was now the "crucible" in which the future of global terrorism would be determined.

Standing alongside his Iraqi counterpart, Iyad Allawi, in London, Blair said: "I know that the conflict in Iraq was a deeply divisive issue here, and there are all sorts of questions still being asked.

"I do say to people that in this new Iraqi conflict, whatever the disagreements about the removal of Saddam, there is only one side for sensible and decent people to be on in this conflict."

Last night former foreign secretary Robin Cook, who resigned from the Cabinet over the Iraq war, said: "There were no international terrorists in Iraq until we went in. It was we who gave the perfect conditions in which al Qaeda could thrive and recruit strongly across the world. In that sense, we are responsible for the conditions we find ourselves in now."